Suspended Space: Ambivalence and the Making of Chinatowns in Japan and Korea

In the course of Japanese expansionism in Asia, Cold War politics, and the postwar state-building projects, an assertion of national belonging remains highly contested for the overseas Chinese communities residing in Japan and South Korea. Looking at Chinatowns as suspended spaces of their in-between lives, this paper explores how the built environments of Chinatowns have become the locus for the Chinese immigrants to negotiate their fluid identities in the two host societies. In so doing, this paper questions the notion of dwelling related to their ambivalent belongings not only to their native homelands but also to their adopted places of residence, the Chinatowns. With multiple identities situated somewhere between (or beyond) Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea, how have the Chinese grappled with their places of residence? Examining the postwar developments of the Chinatowns in Yokohama (Japan) and Incheon (Korea), the largest Chinatowns in their respective countries, this paper investigates the built environments of the Chinatowns which have reflected such endeavors of the overseas Chinese with their ambivalent identities located in the center of their lives. Although outside visitors may view the Chinatowns merely as a variation of Disney-like theme parks, the way the spaces have transformed into major tourist destinations in the postwar years not only reveals how the Chinese quarters have been recognized by local governments as cultural assets. Rather, it also shows the very ambivalence of the immigrant communities for whom the Chinatowns are the only feasible means to assure their spatial belongings. Arguing that the built environments of the two Chinatowns are the spatial manifestations of the ambivalence felt by the Chinese communities on an everyday basis, my paper recasts the notion of ambivalence not as a negative emotion, but as the very characteristic of migrancy that helps produce spaces that we call Chinatowns.